Private Violin Study for Serious Adult Violinists
A highly individualized approach to technique, tone, and artistic freedom.
You practice. You listen. You work carefully.
But something in your playing still isn’t working the way you want it to.
It may be tone, intonation, shifting, coordination, tension, bow control, or a technical problem that keeps returning despite consistent practice. Sometimes you know exactly what the problem is. Sometimes you only know that your playing does not yet feel or sound as free and reliable as it should.
Private study at the Broadbent School of Violin Artistry is designed to find out why.
In our work together, we identify what is actually limiting your playing, determine the technical or musical work needed, and build a clear path forward.
Private sessions are focused, practical, and highly individualized. Rather than applying the same sequence to every violinist, I listen to what is happening in your playing and work from there.
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What May Change in Your Playing
Private study is designed to create changes you can see, hear and feel.
Greater Physical Freedom
Develop a more balanced relationship with the violin, reduce unnecessary effort, and create greater freedom of movement throughout the body, arms, and hands.
More Reliable Technique
Build greater security in finger placement, intonation, shifting, position work, bow control, coordination, and other technical demands.
A More Responsive Sound
Develop greater clarity, resonance, tonal control, and freedom in the bow so that technique can increasingly respond to the sound you want to create.
More Effective Practice
Understand what is actually causing a problem, how to isolate it, and which exercises or practice strategies are most likely to change it.
Greater Musical Freedom
As technique becomes more organized and reliable, more of your attention can move away from managing the instrument and toward phrasing, expression, character, and the music itself.
Technical Areas We May Address
The direction of our work depends on your playing. Areas of study may include:
- Tone production and bow clarity
- Whole-body posture and balance
- Franco-Belgian bow hold and right-hand coordination
- Efficient left-hand organization
- Intonation and listening
- Shifting and position security
- Vibrato freedom and control
- Scales, études, and technical studies
- Practice structure and problem-solving
- Applying technical work directly to repertoire
Private Study
All private lessons take place online via Zoom.
Our sessions center on demonstration, listening, experimentation, and careful refinement. We work directly with your playing, using scales, exercises, études, and repertoire as needed to address the priorities we identify together.
Private students receive:
- A secure Zoom lesson link
- Written session notes in a shared document
- Relevant exercises, resources, and references between lessons
- A clear direction for the work to continue between sessions
When published exercises, études, or repertoire are recommended, students obtain their own copies unless otherwise noted. Public-domain material is used whenever appropriate.
Choose Your Private Study Path
Private Violin Diagnostic Session
45 Minutes · $100
New to private study with me? Start here.
Bring your violin, one scale appropriate to your level, and a short passage of repertoire that represents your current playing.
During our session, I will listen closely to your playing, identify the technical or musical issues most affecting your progress, and establish clear priorities for your continued study.
You will leave with a clearer understanding of what is happening in your playing and where your work needs to begin.
Private Violin Study — 6 Lessons
Six 55-Minute Private Lessons · $780
A focused period of individualized study for violinists who want to make meaningful changes in their playing.
Six lessons give us time to move beyond identifying a problem: we can work with it, refine the approach, and begin integrating the changes into your technique and repertoire.
Lessons may be scheduled according to your needs and must be used within the package validity period specified at purchase.
Private Violin Study
12 Lessons Twelve 55-Minute Private Lessons · $1,440
For violinists ready for deeper, sustained work.
Twelve lessons provide the continuity necessary to address established technical habits, develop greater reliability and freedom, and integrate technical work more fully into musicianship and repertoire.
This is the core path for ongoing private study within the Broadbent School of Violin Artistry.
Lessons may be scheduled according to your needs and must be used within the package validity period specified at purchase.
“I have studied violin with Heather for several years and
she has taught me violin technique skills that I somehow missed in music school. Heather is supportive, encouraging and extremely knowledgeable. I ALWAYS learn something new at each lesson! She looks for the “why” that keeps us from reaching our potential, and gives clear direction on how to improve. Heather changed how I think, study, and practice violin which has transformed my violin technique.” M. Watkins
Bow Work and Ergonomics
I teach the Franco-Belgian bow hold with particular attention to flexibility, weight transfer, and natural movement.
But ergonomic principles extend beyond the bow. The organization of the body, arms, hands, and instrument all influence the ease and reliability with which technique can function.
Years of unnecessary tension are common among adult violinists. Our work examines where effort is needed, where it is not, and how movement can be organized more efficiently.
As unnecessary tension decreases and coordination improves, sound production becomes clearer, movement becomes more reliable, and increasingly sophisticated technique becomes possible without relying on force.
The goal is not simply to make playing physically easier. It is to create the freedom necessary for sound, technique, and musical intention to work together.